Week In Review 4/7/17

Here is your week in review. We would also like to extend a big thank you to everyone that came out to trivia night on Monday. It was our last meeting of the year and was very nice to see so many of you, and even a few new faces!

Bad News

​Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed as the 113th Supreme Court Justice this morning in a 54-45 vote (NYT). Many Senate Democrats participated in a filibuster to block the vote, but the GOP employed the “nuclear option” and voted to lower the bar from 60 to a simple majority to confirm Supreme Court nominations (NBC). Justice Gorsuch is only 49 years old, so it is possible that he could serve on the court for over 30 years.

Thursday evening, following the news earlier this week of the gas attack, President Trump authorized atargeted military airstrike in Syria (CNN). This is the first time that the United States has taken direct military action against the Syrian regime, and it is also a change from what President Trump has always said about Syria (Twitter). It is up to you to decide if you think the president’s actions were unconstitutional, but in 2013 President Trump said that then President Obama needed Congressional approval before attacking Syria (Twitter).

​President Trump has removed Steve Bannon (that racist trash bag from Breitbart) from the National Security Council (NYT). ​He will stay on as the president’s chief strategist and POTUS will add additional staff, like the Director of the CIA, to the principals committee of the NSC (NPR).

The Emmys told non-binary star Asia Kate Dillon from “Billions” that they can choose whichever category they would like to be nominated to for their work as a supporting character (HuffPo). This is a major move from Hollywood toward inclusion.

Bonus: Here is a great editorial that ran in the LA Times this week about Trump’s vision of an authoritarian America. (*Yes, I know that an editorial isn’t a news article​, but I think this piece has value that we can all benefit from reading.)